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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  7. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  16. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  17. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. hand — help
  3. field — a subject
  4. spring — of water
  5. field — farmland
  6. object — an aim
  7. mate — a friend
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. field — for sport
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. object — to protest
  12. spring — the season
  13. mate — to breed
  14. hand — in cards
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. object — a thing
  18. spring — a coil

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com